1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to sunshields and, more particularly, to sunshields or blinds for protecting the interior of motor vehicles against sun rays and blaze, and to motor vehicles and motor vehicle parts and equipment in combination with sunshields.
2. Prior Art Statement
Known sunshields for motor vehicles generally fall into two main categories: out-door and in-door. The out-door devices are comprised of an arcuate semi-transparent member mounted above the upper portion of the front window, thus filtering and shading part of the interior of the car only when the sun is at the higher part of its orbit.
The in-door means are either curtains or venetian blinds which are permanently affixed to the side or rear window frames, or, for the protection of the front window, plain flat sheets, and sun visors, including the type of visor proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,305,677 by A. P. Cotton, for cutting down glare from the sun, especially when caused by reflection from the hood of the automobile.
Since the chief purpose of the Cotton proposal is to cut down glare during driving, the elongated panels of that prior-art sun visor, like the slats of venetian blind or louvre type of automotive sunshields, ran horizontally; that is, across the window or from side to side thereof. This either requires that the sunshield be constructed so that it leaves sufficient space for the driver to see through the window, be it directly or through a rearview mirror, or that special handware be employed and appropriately actuated by the driver to make sure that the sunshield extend to and remain in a desired active position and be also foldable or otherwise actuable to a passive or inactive position.
Both of these measures are needed in the proposal of Cotton, who does not want to cover the windshield beyond the line of vision of the driver and who employs selectively actuable hardware for maintaining the extended sun visor erect.
According to a proposal by G. A. Pritchard in U.S. Pat. No. 2,599,014, weather shields are fastened above automobile windows for the purpose of protecting the interior of the vehicle against the elements while providing for proper ventilation thereof. These weather shields at best offer only a very marginal protection against the rays of the sun, inasmuch as they are applied externally to the automobile structure and are, therefor, necessarily of limited depth.
Various existing folding boards, blinds, and similar structures have not been able to satisfy the long-standing need for an efficient and effective foldable sunshield for a motor vehicle and for an effective and efficient combination of such a shield and motor vehicle structure.
For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 1,252,766 by J. R. Anderson discloses a folding table with panels of varying or diverse width, but fails to teach or suggest any workable sunshield for motor vehicles. J. F. Curry in U.S. Pat. No. 1,307,437 discloses a game board rather than a motor vehicle structure and sunshield combination. E. Reichl in U.S. Pat. No. 1,944,696 and C. H. Schuh in U.S. Pat. No. 2,806,809 disclose folding panels and are similarly deficient as Curry.
R. J. Cayton in U.S. Pat. No. 3,192,784 discloses a vertical blind that would not be suitable for use in motor vehicles because of its bulk and its need for a type of mounting structure that would leave parts of the blind in the driver's field of vision.
A protective enclosure unit proposed by S. Friedberg in U.S. Pat. No. 3,627,272 is constructed in terms of suntanning and would be too bulky for efficient use and for easy storage in motor vehicles.
In German patent publication No. 1,088,422, H. Sieger discloses a corrugated cardboard sheet that has a series of corresponding apertures and is foldable in a spiral to provide a cavity for reception of one-half of a fragile object to be shipped. The corresponding apertures needed to make the Sieger shipping carton operative as taught, also would make that structure useless as a sunshield for motor vehicles.
Unless specifically stated to the contrary, the references herein cited are cited because of applicant's duty of disclosure, and are not represented as relevant to the claimed invention.